AFTER BAR POMPETTE was named Canada’s top bar last year, the team didn’t take a leisurely victory lap, nor flex their newfound cred to make big changes. They doubled down on sharing the charming French café–style hospitality that has helped make Bar Pompette Canada’s Best Bar again in 2025.
At home, the team continues to fine-tune the Parisian ambience: from the noodlings of a live jazz trio on Sunday nights to pitch-perfect details like vintage water jugs and Amer Picon posters. “We are a neighbourhood bar first, and we are here for our neighbours,” says head bartender Dash Tume.
Bar Pompette’s genial, attentive service results from inspiring and training its front-of-house staff. “What does that bartender need, and where do they excel?” says co-owner Hugo Togni. “[We] keep feeding people and giving them more.”
‘Pompette’ is French slang for a person who is slightly squiffy.
Beyond the bar, the leadership team of Togni, co-owner Maxime Hoerth, general manager Simon Taggart and Tume have been globally spreading their tipsy gospel (as “pompette” is French slang for a person who is slightly squiffy). They’ve popped up for guest shifts at hot spots from Mexico City’s Rayo to Allegory in Washington, D.C., and in return have hosted colleagues from top bars in Paris, Miami, San Francisco and beyond.
Pompette’s collegial circle extends to nearby producers that make its farm-to-glass concept possible. For instance, an anise-leaning variety of mint called huacatay, sourced from Toronto’s Broadfork Produce, is used in a syrup and a distillate, a Bar Pompette signature technique. Tamarack Farms east of Toronto supplies Winter Luxury heirloom pie pumpkins: The seeds make a horchata, the flesh mixes with maple syrup, and the result is a silky, whisky-based Citrouille sipper drawn from the bar’s nitro taps.
Regulars have enshrined drinks like the refreshing pastis-based 11 a.m. in Marseille as menu classics — but the wise drinker always asks the barkeep what’s new. “We just want to keep exploring,” says Togni. We’ll be happily seated at the bar, drinking with no map.
—BRENTON MOWFORTH
